OPERA NEWS - Operapedia: La Bohème Operapedia: La Bohème Henry Stewart consumes Puccini’s iconic tragedy. by Henry Stewart. ◀︎ Reactions Puccini didn’t push the form forward, as Richard Strauss would within a decade. Instead, he wrote unabashedly beautiful music, the apotheosis of that lushly Romantic Italian sound. The Metropolitan Opera has performed Bohème 1,290 times, more than any other opera, and, except for 2013, it has been at the house every year since 1981, when the now-iconic Franco Zeffirelli production received its premiere. Dozens of artists have made their company debuts in it, including Vittorio Grigolo, Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu, Patricia Racette and Plácido Domingo—as a conductor! ▲ Time and Place Bohème is set in an epochal Paris of starving artists that the opera helped iconize. Puccini re-created a city very different, spiritually and geographically, from the one that existed at the time of the opera’s premiere.

By the 1860s, Café Momus, where the characters party during Act II, had already become a paint store, and today it’s a boutique hotel—a long way from a boho Right Bank bar! Act III’s tavern just beyond the city limits—at the Barrière d’Enfer (Gate of Hell), now the Place Denfert-Rochereau—was no longer the edge of town but well within the new walls. Today it’s a major traffic intersection—not the opera’s sleepy, snowy, secluded hideaway. ► Something Completely Different Jonathan Larson moved Puccini’s characters from 1830-ish Paris to 1990-ish Alphabet City: Mimì’s lost key becomes Mimi’s lost bag of dope; tuberculosis becomes AIDS; “Quando me’n vo’” becomes “Take Me or Leave Me.” Rent opened off Broadway in 1996—the day after the thirty-five-year-old Larson died from a freak heart problem.

The show moved to Broadway, won the Tony and Pulitzer Prize and ran for twelve years and more than 5,000 performances (during which time Bohème played 169 performances at the Met), making it the eleventh longest-running show in Broadway history. ▲ In Pop Culture Bohème’s ongoing popularity at the Met might be because it’s the show Nicolas Cage and Cher go to see there in Moonstruck, making it the night-out opera for newbies and basic-cable junkies: all the stereotypical trappings—the fountain at Lincoln Center, the black tie, the ornate chandeliers—are there. (The characters basically fall in love during the last lines of “Donde lieta uscì.”) Puccini’s music pervades the soundtrack, helping transform John Patrick Shanley’s humble romance between working-class Brooklynites into a grand fairy-tale. ▲ The Performance We Should've Seen Rent was on Broadway and Bohème was at the Met when Baz Luhrmann—then best known in the U.S. for movies such as Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!—opened a spectacular, $8.5-million production of Puccini’s opera on Broadway, where it ran for a disappointing 228 performances.

New York City ca. 2002 was positively Bohème-saturated! Luhrmann told The New York Times he was “taking this work back to the broad audiences for whom it was written.” “Have any of these people,” Brooks Peters responded rhetorically in OPERA NEWS, “been barred from opera houses?” ▼ On Background The librettists took as their source Henry Murger’s newspaper serial about his friends, collected in 1851 as Scènes de la Vie de Bohème; Puccini et al. condensed and streamlined it (and made it less resemble Verdi’s 1853 La Traviata). “Murger’s book has both endured and faded because of its fervent, wholehearted, mulishly determined sentimentality,” Luc Sante writes in The Other Paris. “It branded bohemia, gave it an origin myth…. Murger … made [bohemia] into a sort of secular religion, all noble suffering and unjust persecution.” Puccini transformed Murger’s storefront church into a gothic cathedral.

► Hit Tune I’ve never seen a Musetta who could make Puccini’s obnoxious character, a love interest for one of the hero’s friends, as much fun as she could be. Still, Musetta’s waltz, “Quando me’n vo,” the Act II showcase for the coquette, has endured, because it’s such a luscious earworm, delicate yet epic, provoking fantasies of Second Empire splendor; for many, it’s the quintessential aural evocation of Paris, on par with Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”—even though the aria was written in Italian by Italians. Bobby Worth adapted the melody for the American pop song “Don’t You Know,” which became a hit in 1959 for Della Reese, mixing up matters of provenance even further. La Bohème Composer La Bohème Composer Pin It Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858 in the small Northern Italian town of Lucca. His family had been the musical heart of Lucca for several generations and the same was hoped for young Giacomo.

His mother, Albina, was a single parent with seven children who scrimped and saved so that Giacomo could have music lessons. To help with family finances, Puccini began working at age 11 as a church organist, and later earned money by playing piano in Lucca’s taverns. After seeing Verdi’s AIDA in Pisa at age 18, he moved to Milan to study at the Conservatory having decided that opera was his true path. To save money, he shared an apartment with several friends, dodging bill collectors and playing piano in bars for food. This experience would help Puccini breathe life into the young artists in LA BOHÈME. Puccini wrote his first opera, LE VILLI, for a competition. The judges didn’t like it but Giulio Ricordi, the most important publisher in Italy, did and saw great promise in Puccini. He paid Puccini a stipend for several years, and stood by him through several attempts to write a successful opera. Ricordi believed that Puccini would become famous and he was right.

He made a fortune as the publisher of the world’s most popular operas: MANON LESCAUT, LA BOHÈME, TOSCA, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, and TURANDOT. Puccini teamed up with librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa to adapt Henry Murger’s novel/play Scènes de la vie de Bohème into an opera. Puccini was all about the detail and tortured his librettists to get every detail just right. The first few performances were met with lukewarm responses but the overwhelming success in Palermo sealed the deal and LA BOHÈME has gone on to become one of the most performed and beloved operas in the repertory. La Boheme | opera by Puccini | Britannica.com opera by Puccini Giuseppe Giacosa La Bohème, opera in four acts by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa ) that premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin , Italy , on February 1, 1896.

The story, a sweetly tragic romance, was based on the episodic novel Scènes de la vie de bohème (1847–49; “Scenes of Bohemian Life”) by French writer Henri Murger . A success from the beginning, it is one of the most frequently performed of all operas. Background and context Puccini’s fourth opera met obstacles on its way to the stage. Although the subject had come to his attention by the time he was finishing Manon Lescaut at the end of 1891, Puccini was not yet committed to writing an opera on the bohemian theme. His collaborator Luigi Illica was a strong advocate, however, and Puccini had decided by early 1893 to have him work out the scenario. In a chance meeting, Puccini learned that Ruggero Leoncavallo , one of his strongest rivals, had made great progress on his own La Bohème. The two composers took their arguments and counteraccusations to the popular press.

Puccini’s resolve was strengthened, and Illica persuaded Giuseppe Giacosa (who, as a respected poet, had considered the subject unworthy) to work on the versification of the story. It took nearly three years for the librettists to satisfy Puccini and for him to compose the opera. Giacomo Puccini, c. 1900. Photos.com/Jupiterimages La Bohème’s long-awaited premiere was conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini . Critics who had adored the composer’s Manon Lescaut and were expecting something dark and dramatic were a bit put off by the sweetness of La Bohème’s story, but audiences were highly receptive. Soon La Bohème had eclipsed Manon Lescaut in popularity. Puccini described the public reaction as a “splendid reception.” In fact, the results so pleased the team of Puccini, Illica, and Giacosa that the men—who had first worked together to finish Manon Lescaut—reunited to create two equally beloved operas: Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

Similar Topics Madama Butterfly La Bohème, which marks Puccini’s emergence as a fully mature and original composer, contains some of the most-memorable arias and musical scenes in opera. Throughout, Puccini relies on short musical motifs that represent characters, themes, and moods so that the music underscores and highlights aspects of the drama. In the case of Mimì and Rodolfo, musical phrases bring the opera full circle and let the music reveal the memories recurring in the minds of the lovers as they say farewell.

Rodolfo, a writer, one of the four bohemians ( tenor ) Musetta, a working girl, Marcello’s former lover (soprano) Marcello, an artist, one of the four bohemians ( baritone ) Schaunard, a musician, one of the four bohemians (baritone) Colline, a philosopher, one of the four bohemians ( bass ) Benoit, a landlord (bass) Alcindoro, a wealthy suitor to Musetta (bass) Parpignol, a toy peddler (tenor) Custom-house sergeant (bass) Students, young women, citizens, shopkeepers, street vendors, soldiers, waiters, children. Setting and story summary La Bohème is set in Paris (1837–38). Act I A garret on the Left Bank of the Seine on Christmas Eve, 1837. Marcello, a painter, and Rodolfo, a writer, are finding it difficult to work in the cold garret they share with two other impoverished friends. Rodolfo gazes out the window and notes the smoke rising from seemingly every chimney but theirs.

Marcello suggests burning a chair or even The Red Sea (the painting he is working on), but Rodolfo offers to burn one of his manuscripts instead. As they enjoy the warmth from the burning papers, their roommate Colline, a philosopher, arrives, grumbling that the pawnbroker will not accept his books . He is surprised to see a fire , but the others hush him, for they are performing Rodolfo’s play as they feed the fire. As the fire goes out, Marcello and Colline cry, “Down with the author!” Britannica Stories Big Radio Burst from Tiny Galaxy At this moment the fourth bohemian roommate, Schaunard, a musician, arrives laden with firewood, cigars , wine , food , and money . The others leap upon the provisions as Schaunard recounts how he came by his good fortune. An English lord hired him to play music nonstop until his neighbour’s annoying parrot died. Schaunard played for three days but then got the bright idea of poisoning the bird by feeding it parsley .

Observing that no one is paying attention to his story—and that the food is disappearing fast—Schaunard sharply calls the company to order, pointing out that the food should be saved for needy days to come. It is Christmas Eve, and they will dine in the Latin Quarter. They are about to drink a toast when their landlord, Benoit, knocks at the door to collect the rent. The four young men ply the landlord with wine, finally getting him to admit that he likes the ladies. When he speaks of his wife’s ugliness and ill temper, they feign moral outrage, boot him out the door, and prepare to go out. Rodolfo, however, stays behind to finish an important newspaper article. Urging him to hurry, the others leave, Colline tumbling down the dark stairs. Listen: “Bohème, La”: “Mi chiamano Mimì” “Mi chiamano Mimì” (They Call Me Mimi) from La Bohème (1896) by … Alone, Rodolfo finds that he is not in the mood to write. A soft knock announces an unexpected visitor: a lovely but pale young woman who asks him to light her candle , which has gone out.

He asks her to come in, but she declines at first. Then she shyly comes in and immediately falls in a faint, for she is ill. He sprinkles water on her face, reviving her, and offers her some wine. Thoroughly enchanted, he watches her as she takes a sip and stands up to leave. He lights her candle, and she bids him good night. But she returns immediately, for she has dropped her key. Her candle goes out again, and so does Rodolfo’s. Together they search in the dark. He finds the key, but he pretends it is still lost. He comes upon her icy cold hand, and he asks if he can warm it for her (“ Che gelida manina ”). He tells her that he is a poet , poor monetarily but rich in dreams. She says she is called Mimì but her real name is Lucia (“ Mi chiamano Mimì ”). She lives alone amid the flowers she embroiders, and she looks forward to the fragrance of the real flowers in the spring. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Their reverie is interrupted by Rodolfo’s friends, who shout insults up at the window to get him to hurry up and join them.

Rodolfo sticks his head out the window and says he is just finishing up. Marcello asks what he is doing up there alone, but Rodolfo replies that he is not alone. This prompts more ribbing, and the friends go off to the Café Momus. Rodolfo and Mimì now declare their love for each other (Duet: “ O soave fanciulla ”). He tries to kiss her, but she evades him and asks if she might come with him to Momus. Rodolfo replies that it will be much nicer at home, but she points out that she will be near him and that afterward—who knows? They leave the garret, singing of love. Act II A few minutes later, in the Latin Quarter. Vendors hawk their holiday wares in the busy Latin Quarter. Schaunard tries out a horn; Colline gets his coat mended and buys a rare book; Rodolfo buys Mimì a pink bonnet; and Marcello flirts with the girls. Everyone meets at Café Momus, where Rodolfo introduces Mimì to his friends. With great ceremony they fetch a table and chairs from the café and set them up outside, next to a table of townsfolk.

A toy peddler, Parpignol, strolls by, besieged by children. The bohemians order a huge supper. Marcello asks Mimì what rare gift Rodolfo has given her, and she tells him about the bonnet, which she had long coveted. As they rise for a toast, the flamboyant entrance of Musetta makes Marcello wish he were drinking poison instead of wine. Musetta, Marcello’s former mistress, is richly dressed and attended by the wealthy, aged Alcindoro, who can barely keep up with her as she sails through the crowd to end up at a very conspicuous table near the bohemians. Members of the Dnipropetrovsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Ukraine, in a 2012 performance of … © Igor Bulgarin/Shutterstock.com Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies As Marcello rages to his friends about Musetta’s flaws, Musetta notices him and is vexed that he refuses to acknowledge her. She decides to create a scene by calling the waiter to her and smashing a plate on the ground in disgust.

Alcindoro, already distressed at being in so public a place with her, tries in vain to calm her down. Schaunard and Colline find the situation hilarious. Finally, Musetta turns the full power of her charm on Marcello, bragging that everyone watches her when she walks down the street and that their admiration fills her with desire (“ Musetta’s Waltz ”: “ Quando me’n vo’ ”). Mimì feels sorry for her; Rodolfo explains that Marcello had once loved Musetta, but she had abandoned him for being poor. Ignoring Alcindoro’s pleas that she keep quiet and noticing that Marcello is feeling humiliated, Musetta pretends to have a dreadful pain in her foot and sends the old man off to find someone to fix her too-tight shoe . Marcello is overcome with emotion and embraces her passionately. When the bill comes, the bohemians find themselves without funds. Musetta has a bright idea: combine her bill with theirs and let Alcindoro pay it. They all carry Musetta off in triumph as a colourful parade passes by.

Alcindoro returns with the shoe to find that his paramour has vanished, leaving him with a large bill to pay. Act III A snowy morning at dawn, a month later, at the customs gate just outside Paris. Customs officers sleepily let street sweepers and vendors past the barrier into Paris as late revelers celebrate in a nearby tavern . Mimì approaches the tavern; she is clearly ill. She sends word to Marcello, who works there, that she must speak to him. Marcello is surprised to see her. He tells her that he and Musetta have been there for a month at the innkeeper’s expense; he is painting a mural , and she is giving voice lessons. When he asks Mimì to come in out of the cold, she refuses because Rodolfo is there. She begs the stunned Marcello for help, explaining that although Rodolfo loves her, he has left her because he became jealous and suspicious without provocation. She has caught him watching her as she sleeps, and he has told her that she is not for him and should take another lover. She is at her wits’ end. Marcello can only advise that they stay apart.

Mimì agrees but explains that they have tried to part many times and could not do it. She again begs for his help, and he agrees to speak to Rodolfo, who had arrived there an hour before dawn and had fallen asleep on a bench. When Marcello notices her cough, she tells him that she has been ill since the day before and that Rodolfo left her last night, saying, “It’s over.” Trending Topics Industrial Revolution Marcello sees through the tavern window that Rodolfo has awakened. Mimì does not want him to see her. Marcello tells her to go home, but she hides nearby and overhears Rodolfo tell Marcello that he wants to leave Mimì because he is bored. But Marcello knows better. He accuses Rodolfo of being jealous and stubborn. Rodolfo then claims that Mimì has been flirting with a viscount . Again, Marcello does not believe it. Finally, Rodolfo tells the truth: he loves Mimì more than anything in the world, but she is dying of consumption ( tuberculosis ), and in his poverty he cannot provide for her properly. He is only making her health worse.

Mimì, in tears, reveals herself; Rodolfo rushes to comfort her. The sound of Musetta’s laughter from the tavern prompts the jealous Marcello to run inside. Mimì says goodbye to Rodolfo. She is returning to her apartment alone, where she will embroider her artificial flowers (“ Donde lieta uscì ”). She asks him to gather her few little things and send them to her. She has left the pink bonnet under her pillow; if he wishes, he can keep it as a souvenir of their love. They sadly recall the moments they will no longer share, the sweet kisses, the waking together in the morning; but they will also say goodbye to quarrels and jealousy. However, as Marcello and Musetta’s spat spills out of the tavern and they end their relationship, Rodolfo and Mimì decide to remain together until the spring. Act IV Several months later in the garret. Marcello and Rodolfo are working but are also tormenting each other with remarks about Musetta and Mimì and pretending to be unaffected. Finally, neither can stand it any longer.

Marcello furtively removes a ribbon from his pocket and kisses it; Rodolfo does the same with the pink bonnet. They muse sorrowfully on their lost loves (Duet: “ O Mimì, tu più non torni ”). Schaunard bursts in, but this time all he carries are four rolls, a pickled herring , a bottle of water, and Colline. They all pretend that before them is a great feast. Colline makes a great pretense of having to leave early for an appointment with the king. Things get sillier as Schaunard suggests that the four of them dance. Rodolfo and Marcello (in the female role) dance together as Schaunard beats time and Colline calls the steps. Schaunard and Colline turn a disagreement over dance steps into a mock duel . Into the resulting bedlam suddenly comes Musetta, who announces that Mimì is downstairs and is seriously ill. Rodolfo and Marcello rush out to get her as the others prepare a bed. Rodolfo tenderly carries Mimì to the bed. She expresses doubt that he wants her there, and he reassures her.

Musetta explains to the others that Mimì, nearly dying, had left the viscount and was searching for Rodolfo. Musetta found her stumbling in the street; Mimì told her that she wanted to die with Rodolfo and asked Musetta to take her to him. As the lovers embrace, Marcello reveals that they have nothing to give Mimì to eat or drink. Schaunard realizes that she will be dead within a half hour. Mimì’s hands are cold; she wishes she had a muff. Rodolfo takes her hands in his and tries to warm them as she smiles and greets the others. Musetta takes Marcello aside and gives him her earrings , telling him to sell them so they can get medicine and a doctor; she will go with him to get a muff for Mimì. Colline takes off his faithful old coat, in the pockets of which the work of great philosophers and poets have resided, and bids it farewell (“ Coat Aria Vecchia zimarra ”). He advises Schaunard to do the lovers a kindness and leave them alone.

Mimì tells Rodolfo that she was pretending to be asleep because she wanted to be alone with him to tell him that he is her lifelong love. She recalls telling him her name at their first meeting. Rodolfo takes the pink bonnet out of his pocket, bringing back more sweet memories. She teases him, for she knows that on their first meeting he had found her dropped key much earlier than he pretended. Mimì’s coughing fit brings Schaunard back into the room. But she assures him and Rodolfo that she is all right, and she closes her eyes. Musetta and Marcello return; the doctor is on his way, and they have brought some medicine. Musetta slips the muff onto Mimì’s hands. Mimì marvels at its softness and warmth. She asks if Rodolfo bought it; Musetta quickly says yes. When Mimì playfully calls him a spendthrift, he bursts into tears. She asks why he is crying when she is better, she is with her love, her hands are warm, and she can sleep. Believing that she is asleep, Rodolfo leaves the bedside and asks Marcello about the doctor.

Meanwhile, Musetta prepares the medicine and prays for Mimì. Schaunard checks on Mimì and discovers that she has died; he tells Marcello, who is horrified. Colline returns and asks Rodolfo about Mimì’s condition. Rodolfo begins to say she is asleep when he notices how Marcello and Schaunard are looking at him. Marcello tries to comfort Rodolfo, but he is overcome with despair and embraces her dead body, calling out to his Mimì. La Bohème | Opera Australia Opera Australia Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera HouseJanuary 4 – March 24, 2017 Hide Dates and Prices Buy Tickets Hear the story behind the opera. Join us 45 minutes before this performance when a member of Opera Australia's artistic team will share their insights into the opera. Held in the Northern Foyer of the Joan Sutherland Theatre, this informal and informative talk will help you to get the most out of your opera experience. Thu 9.3.17 Buy Tickets Hear the story behind the opera. Join us 45 minutes before this performance when a member of Opera Australia's artistic team will share their insights into the opera.

Held in the Northern Foyer of the Joan Sutherland Theatre, this informal and informative talk will help you to get the most out of your opera experience. Wed 15.3.17 Buy Tickets With the flickering of a candle, love sparks. Two hands meet in the dark and four friends' lives are changed forever. The way that first love grabs hold of your insides and floods you with something you've never felt before. The fire that burns you the first time jealousy flares. The growing up you do in the instant you realise love can't last forever. Puccini takes these achingly human feelings and sets them to music — music that soars with the ecstacy of love, crackles with the pain of jealousy and cries with the agony of loss. Some human emotions are too big for words alone, and for that, we have music. La Bohème exposes your soul to the feelings that only music can express, and it opens our season most years because that's an experience everyone should have in their lifetime.

Gale Edwards' glittering production, set in the bohemian streets of 1930s Berlin, offers a perfect showcase for Mariangela Sicilia and Greta Bradman, sharing the role of Mimì. Head up the stairs at the Joan Sutherland Theatre to enjoy the pop-up bar with an unbeatable view of the harbour, exclusive to ticket holders. The bar opens 90 minutes before evening performances. See the menu . Watch the La Bohème trailer Photo Gallery La Bohème at Sydney Opera House in 2017 Video La Bohème: A listening guide Audio Listen to 'Mi chiamano Mimì' from La Bohème Conductor Mariangela Sicilia (until 23 Jan, except 5 & 7 Jan) Greta Bradman (5, 7 Jan & from 24 Feb) Rodolfo Arthur Espiritu (from 24 Feb) Musetta Please note: this production contains partial nudity. Running time: approximately 2 hours & 15 minutes, including one 20-minute interval. Performed in Italian with English surtitles.

The Story Hide A poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher walk into a bar (no really!) to celebrate a sudden windfall in a lean winter. It’s Christmas Eve, and the poet has just felt the first pangs of great love. When a seamstress knocks on his door searching for candlelight, the pair fall in love faster than she can sing, "Yes, they call me Mimì…" Between the ideals of love and art and the cruel realities of cold winters, bitter jealousies and empty pockets, two sets of lovers are trying to find their way. By the time the curtain falls, you’ll know the answer to an eternal question: Is love enough? Synopsis Hide ACT I It is Christmas Eve. Rodolfo, a poet, and Marcello, a painter, are freezing in their studio. Marcello is painting The Crossing of the Red Sea. Colline, a philosopher, arrives as the fire Rodolfo has lit with one of his manuscripts, flickers and dies. Schaunard brings reinforcements — food, wine and fuel for the fire, bought with unexpected money from his earnings as a musician. A knock at the door and Benoit, the landlord, arrives demanding the rent.

The four Bohemians ply him with wine and then bundle him off. Marcello, Colline and Schaunard go off to join the celebrations at Café Momus. Promising to join them soon, Rodolfo settles down to finish an article he is writing. There is another knock. This time it is a neighbour, Mimì — a beautiful young seamstress, holding her key and an unlit candle. She begs a light and Rodolfo obliges. Mimì departs and drops her key. Together they search for the key, and their hands touch. They tell each other about themselves and Rodolfo passionately declares his love. The new lovers then set off into the night to join the others. ACT II The square in which Café Momus is situated is the Bohemians' favourite haunt, bustling with shoppers and hawkers. Rodolfo buys his new love a bonnet. At the café, Marcello's old flame, Musetta, appears with a new admirer, Alcindoro. To attract Marcello's attention, Musetta bursts into her famous waltz song.

Marcello responds and Musetta, pretending that her shoe is pinching, dispatches Alcindoro to a cobbler. She joins in the revelry with Marcello and his friends. When they depart they leave a reminder for the hapless Alcindoro on his return — a huge bill! ACT III It is daybreak just inside a tollgate. Snow lies on the ground. Mimì emerges from the throng of workers. She is looking for Marcello at a nearby inn where he and Musetta have been living for the past month. Pale and agitated, she tells him of Rodolfo's jealousy which has made their life together impossible. Mimì hides as Rodolfo suddenly appears. He declares her to be unfaithful, but then confides to Marcello that Mimì is very ill and blames himself and his poverty for not being able to help her. Mimì's sudden coughing betrays her presence and the lovers sadly decide it is best that they part. Their parting duet is interrupted by the sounds of a fierce quarrel between Marcello and Musetta. Mimì and Rodolfo decide to stay together until spring returns. ACT IV The studio, months later.

Both pairs of lovers have now parted. Mimì and Musetta have found wealthy admirers. Rodolfo and Marcello feign indifference, but neither can forget the memory of his love. Schaunard and Colline arrive with meagre food and the four sit down to a mock 'banquet'. While they are acting the fool, Musetta rushes in with news that Mimì is desperately ill and has asked to be brought back to Rodolfo to die. Musetta explains that the Viscount has discarded Mimì and she has been living on the streets for weeks sinking further into poverty and desperation. The Bohemians rally to the cause. Musetta pawns her earrings and Colline his beloved coat to buy medicine for Mimì. Alone for a short time, Mimì and Rodolfo recall the past, reliving their short spell of happiness and their dreams together. Mimì, seized by a coughing fit, falls back, exhausted. When the others return, she weakly thanks them for their kindness and falls asleep. It is Schaunard who first notices that Mimì is dead. Rodolfo is the last to realise, by seeing the truth on his friends' faces.

Giacomo Puccini | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Robert Cummings Giacomo Puccini was the most important composer of Italian opera after Verdi . He wrote in the verismo style, a counterpart to the movement of Realism in literature and a trend that favored subjects and characters from everyday life for opera. On his often commonplace settings Puccini lavished memorable melodies and lush orchestration. It was around the turn of the twentieth century that he reached his artistic zenith, composing in succession his three most popular and effective operas, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Young Giacomo took organ lessons early on from his uncle, Fortunato Magi , and later from Carlo Angeloni . At ten, he sang in local church choirs and by age 14 was freelancing as an organist at religious services. His first compositions were for organ, often incorporating operatic and folk elements. By age 18, under the spell of Verdi 's Aida, he decided he would study composition with a view to writing opera.

At around this time, he composed his first large-scale work, a cantata, Preludio Sinfonico, for an 1877 competition. Other pieces came in the next few years, but none of significance. In 1880, Puccini entered the Milan Conservatory, where he studied for three years under Ponchielli and Bazzini. While there, he wrote his first opera, Le villi, which he once more entered in a competition. Though he lost, Arrigo Boito and, more importantly, publisher Giulio Ricordi helped arrange a premiere in Milan on May 31, 1884. The work was enthusiastically received, and Puccini was on his way. Around this time the composer met Elvira Gemignani, wife of a merchant in Lucca. They carried on an illicit affair, and she gave birth to his son in 1886. When her husband died in 1904, the two were married. Puccini 's next opera, Edgar, was poorly received at its 1889 premiere. Subsequent revisions failed to rescue it from its encumbering libretto.

His next effort, however, Manon Lescaut, was a sensational success at its 1893 Turin premiere. Subsequent performances in Italy and abroad bolstered the composer's growing reputation. Puccini 's next three operas confirmed his preeminence in Italian opera. La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904) were not immediately as successful as Manon Lescaut, but in time achieved greater acclaim. By the middle of the twentieth century, they had become -- and remain today -- his most often performed and recorded works. Puccini suffered a creative dry spell for a time and was unable to finish another opera until the moderately successful La fanciulla del West (1910), which premiered in New York with Toscanini conducting and Caruso singing the role of Johnson. His sluggishness of inspiration owed much to charges by his wife he was having an affair with a servant girl, charges that drove the hapless, and as it turned out, innocent young girl to suicide in 1909. In 1913, Puccini accepted a lucrative commission from Vienna interests, which resulted in La rondine.

Received warmly at its 1917 Monte Carlo premiere, it faded under the judgment it was the least of his operatic efforts. Puccini followed this disappointment with his trilogy of one-act operas, Il trittico -- comprised of Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi -- all premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1918. Only the latter work, a comedy, was well received. While Puccini was working on his last opera, Turandot, he was diagnosed with throat cancer (1923). During radiation treatment in Brussels, he suffered a heart attack and died on November 29, 1924.

Giacomo Puccini | Italian composer | Britannica.com Italian composer Alternative Title: Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini born Domenico Scarlatti Giacomo Puccini, in full Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (born December 22, 1858, Lucca , Tuscany [Italy]—died November 29, 1924, Brussels , Belgium ), Italian composer, one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, who virtually brought the history of Italian opera to an end. His mature operas include La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot, left incomplete. Giacomo Puccini. Alinari/Art Resource, New York Early life and marriage Puccini was the last descendant of a family that for two centuries had provided the musical directors of the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca.

Puccini initially dedicated himself to music , therefore, not as a personal vocation but as a family profession. He was orphaned at the age of five by the death of his father, and the municipality of Lucca supported the family with a small pension and kept the position of cathedral organist open for Giacomo until he came of age. He first studied music with two of his father’s former pupils, and he played the organ in small local churches. A performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, which he saw in Pisa in 1876, convinced him that his true vocation was opera. In the autumn of 1880 he went to study at the Milan Conservatory, where his principal teachers were Antonio Bazzini, a famous violinist and composer of chamber music, and Amilcare Ponchielli , the composer of the opera La gioconda. On July 16, 1883, he received his diploma and presented as his graduation composition Capriccio sinfonico, an instrumental work that attracted the attention of influential musical circles in Milan. In the same year, he entered Le villi in a competition for one-act operas.

The judges did not think Le villi worthy of consideration, but a group of friends, led by the composer-librettist Arrigo Boito , subsidized its production, and its premiere took place with immense success at Milan’s Verme Theatre on May 31, 1884. Le villi was remarkable for its dramatic power, its operatic melody, and, revealing the influence of Richard Wagner’s works, the important role played by the orchestra. The music publisher Giulio Ricordi immediately acquired the copyright, with the stipulation that the opera be expanded to two acts. He also commissioned Puccini to write a new opera for La Scala and gave him a monthly stipend: thus began Puccini’s lifelong association with Giulio Ricordi, who was to become a staunch friend and counselor . Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent After the death of his mother, Puccini fled from Lucca with a married woman, Elvira Gemignani. Finding in their passion the courage to defy the truly enormous scandal generated by their illegal union, they lived at first in Monza, near Milan, where a son, Antonio, was born.

In 1890 they moved to Milan, and in 1891 to Torre del Lago, a fishing village on Lake Massaciuccoli in Tuscany. This home was to become Puccini’s refuge from life, and he remained there until three years before his death, when he moved to Viareggio. But living with Elvira proved difficult. Tempestuous rather than compliant , she was justifiably jealous and was not an ideal companion. The two were finally able to marry in 1904, after the death of Elvira’s husband. Puccini’s second opera, Edgar, based on a verse drama by the French writer Alfred de Musset , had been performed at La Scala in 1889, and it was a failure. Nevertheless, Ricordi continued to have faith in his protégé and sent him to Bayreuth in Germany to hear Wagner’s Die Meistersinger.

Mature work and fame They Call Me Mimi ”) from … Puccini returned from Bayreuth with the plan for Manon Lescaut, based, like the Manon of the French composer Jules Massenet , on the celebrated 18th-century novel by the Abbé Prévost . Beginning with this opera, Puccini carefully selected the subjects for his operas and spent considerable time on the preparation of the librettos. The psychology of the heroine in Manon Lescaut, as in succeeding works, dominates the dramatic nature of Puccini’s operas. Puccini, in sympathy with his public, was writing to move them so as to assure his success. The score of Manon Lescaut, dramatically alive, prefigures the operatic refinements achieved in his mature operas: La Bohème , Tosca , Madama Butterfly , and La fanciulla del west (1910; The Girl of the Golden West ). These four mature works also tell a moving love story, one that centres entirely on the feminine protagonist and ends in a tragic resolution. All four speak the same refined and limpid musical language of the orchestra that creates the subtle play of thematic reminiscences.

The music always emerges from the words, indissolubly bound to their meaning and to the images they evoke. In Bohème, Tosca, and Butterfly, he collaborated enthusiastically with the writers Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. The first performance (February 17, 1904) of Madama Butterfly was a fiasco, probably because the audience found the work too much like Puccini’s preceding operas. For a 1908 recording of Emma Eames singing “ Vissi d’arte ” from Tosca, see Emma Eames . Poster for Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, 1906; 300 cm × 135 cm. Universal Images Group/SuperStock Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies In 1908, having spent the summer in Cairo, the Puccinis returned to Torre del Lago, and Giacomo devoted himself to Fanciulla. Elvira unexpectedly became jealous of Doria Manfredi, a young servant from the village who had been employed for several years by the Puccinis. She drove Doria from the house threatening to kill her.

Subsequently, the servant girl poisoned herself, and her parents had the body examined by a physician, who declared her a virgin. The Manfredis brought charges against Elvira Puccini for persecution and calumny, creating one of the most famous scandals of the time. Elvira was found guilty, but through the negotiations of the lawyers was not sentenced, and Puccini paid damages to the Manfredis, who withdrew their accusations. Eventually the Puccinis adjusted themselves to a coexistence, but the composer from then on demanded absolute freedom of action. Giacomo Puccini, 1908. Music: Fact or Fiction? The premiere of La fanciulla del west took place at the Metropolitan in New York City on December 10, 1910, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. It was a great triumph, and with it Puccini reached the end of his mature period. He admitted “writing an opera is difficult.” For one who had been the typical operatic representative of the turn of the century, he felt the new century advancing ruthlessly with problems no longer his own. He did not understand contemporary events, such as World War I .

In 1917 at Monte-Carlo in Monaco , Puccini’s opera La rondine was first performed and then was quickly forgotten. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Always interested in contemporary operatic compositions , Puccini studied the works of Claude Debussy , Richard Strauss , Arnold Schoenberg , and Igor Stravinsky . From this study emerged Il trittico ( The Triptych; New York City, 1918), three stylistically individual one-act operas—the melodramatic Il tabarro ( The Cloak), the sentimental Suor Angelica , and the comic Gianni Schicchi . His last opera, based on the fable of Turandot as told in the play Turandot by the 18th-century Italian dramatist Carlo Gozzi , is the only Italian opera in the Impressionistic style. Puccini did not complete Turandot, unable to write a final grand duet on the triumphant love between Turandot and Calaf. Suffering from cancer of the throat, he was ordered to Brussels for surgery, and a few days afterward he died with the incomplete score of Turandot in his hands.

Turandot was performed posthumously at La Scala on April 25, 1926, and Arturo Toscanini , who conducted the performance, concluded the opera at the point Puccini had reached before dying. Two final scenes were completed by Franco Alfano from Puccini’s sketches. Solemn funeral services were held for Puccini at La Scala in Milan, and his body was taken to Torre del Lago, which became the Puccini Pantheon. Shortly afterward, Elvira and Antonio were also buried there. The Puccini house became a museum and an archive. Accomplishments The majority of Puccini’s operas illustrate a theme defined in Il tabarro: “Chi ha vissuto per amore, per amore si morì” (“He who has lived for love, has died for love”). This theme is played out in the fate of his heroines—women who are devoted body and soul to their lovers, are tormented by feelings of guilt, and are punished by the infliction of pain until in the end they are destroyed.

In his treatment of this theme, Puccini combines compassion and pity for his heroines with a strong streak of sadism: hence the strong emotional appeal but also the restricted scope of the Puccinian type of opera. Giacomo Puccini, c. 1900. Eyjafjallajökull volcano The main feature of Puccini’s musicodramatic style is his ability to identify himself with his subject; each opera has its distinctive ambience . With an unfailing instinct for balanced dramatic structure, Puccini knew that an opera is not all action, movement, and conflict; it must also contain moments of repose, contemplation, and lyricism. For such moments he invented an original type of melody, passionate and radiant, yet marked by an underlying morbidity; examples are the “farewell” and “death” arias that also reflect the persistent melancholy from which he suffered in his personal life.

Puccini’s approach to dramatic composition is expressed in his own words: “The basis of an opera is its subject and its treatment.” The fashioning of a story into a moving drama for the stage claimed his attention in the first place, and he devoted to this part of his work as much labour as to the musical composition itself. The action of his operas is uncomplicated and self-evident, so that the spectator, even if he does not understand the words, readily comprehends what is taking place on the stage. Puccini’s conception of diatonic melody is rooted in the tradition of 19th-century Italian opera, but his harmonic and orchestral style indicate that he was also aware of contemporary developments, notably the work of the Impressionists and of Stravinsky. Though he allowed the orchestra a more active role, he upheld the traditional vocal style of Italian opera, in which the singers carry the burden of the music. In many ways a typical fin de siècle artist, Puccini nevertheless can be ranked as the greatest exponent of operatic realism.

Question: Which Italian wrote the opera "La Boheme"?
Answer: PUCCINI